High Commissioner's Dialogue

In 2007, then UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres launched the first in a series of Dialogues on Protection Challenges. This annual event in Geneva facilitates a lively and informal discussion on new or emerging global protection issues.

Over the years, the Dialogue has become an important forum to discuss protection challenges related to our mandate and work, and to identify ways of strengthening the protection of people of concern.

Since the first gathering, participants have addressed protracted refugee situations, durable solutions and international migration, challenges for people of concern in urban settings, and protection gaps and responses in the existing international protection framework for forcibly displaced and stateless people.

The Dialogue on Protection Challenges is not structured to elicit formal or agreed outcomes, but rather provides a unique forum for a free and open exchange of views between states, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, the academic and research community, and other stakeholders. At the close of the meeting, the High Commissioner delivers a summary of the discussions and highlights elements for follow up.